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Wallis
The Wallis Tractor Company of Cleveland, Ohio was founded by Henry M. Wallis in 1912. H.M. Wallis was president of the J. I. Case Plow Works, which was founded by J.I. Case in 1878, but was separate from his main business, the J.I.Case Threshing Machine Company. After Case's death, a family split left his direct descendants in control of the Plow Works, his brother-in-law (Stephen Bull) in control of the Threshing Machine Company. Wallis was married to one of J.I. Case's daughters. History The first Wallis tractor was of the Steam tractor design of a huge machine called the Wallis Bear. But later designs evolved into alight weight model, the Wallis Cub. The tractors were built in the J.I. Case Plow Works Company's factory in Racine, Wisconsin. Wallis engineers Clarence Eason and Robert Hendrickson patented the One piece curved 'U' frame in 1913. Hendrickson was an inventor looking for a financial backer for his light weight tractor design.Case; Photographic History by April Halberstadt. ISBN 0-7603-0061-5 The Cub was unusal at that time as it has a light 4-cylinder engine instead of the usual single or 2 -cylinder of the time. The tractors were built by the J.I. Case Plow Works Company, which was taken over by Massey-Harris in 1926, in a move to enter the tractor business in addition to building implements. They had earlier attempted to buy Bull Motors in 1917 and the Parrett tractor in 1918. Case built the Wallis tractor in their Racine, Wisconsin factory. The company was taken over by Massey-Harris in 1928. Following the take over Massey used some of the design features like the Curved under frame in the new Massey-Harris Challenger and Pacemaker models in 1936. The Wallis name was dropped in 1938. The J.I.Case name was sold to back to former parent the J.I.Case Threshing Machine Co. Ruston and Hornsby The Wallis was built for a short period by Ruston & Hornsby under license in 19?. Models Serial numbers When you are trying to ID a Wallis, remember the rule of 471. Wallis tractors were assembled with the engine number being 471 less than the chassis number from the mid teens to late thirties......all of them! If your serial tag is gone and engine is 54974, then add 471 to get chassis number of 55445. If the two numbers on a given tractor are not 471 apart then the engine has been swapped out along the way. From a discussion at the web site Smoke stack.com Preservation Quite a few Wallis tractors survive in the USA, But in the UK they are fairly rare. * The Wallis Cub is very rare with just 6 or 7 examples known.Smokestak.com post by Malcolm Robinson See also * J.I.Case * List of Tractor Manufacturers * List of Types of Agricultural Machinery * Shows and Meets * Clubs Listing References & sources * Classic Tractors of the World, by N. Baldwin. External links * Wallis thread on Massey collectors web site Category:Companies of the United States Category:Defunct companies of the United States Category:Defunct Tractor manufacturers Category:Companies founded in 1899 Category:1928 mergers Category:1938 disestablishments Category:Wallis Tractor Co.